TY - JOUR
T1 - Serum anti-Mullerian hormone levels in women are unstable in the postpartum period but return to normal within 5 months: a longitudinal study
T2 - a longitudinal study
AU - Pankhurst, Michael W
AU - de Kat, Annelien C
AU - Jones, Shirley
AU - Broekmans, Frank J M
AU - Wheeler, Benjamin J
N1 - Funding Information:
Supported by grants from the Health Research Council of New Zealand [grant # 14–441] and the Healthcare Otago Charitable Trust. M.W.P. is supported by a Sir Charles Hercus Health Research Fellowship from the Health Research Council of New Zealand [grant # 18–027].
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.
PY - 2021/1
Y1 - 2021/1
N2 - PURPOSE: Anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) levels fall during pregnancy but the amount of time required for AMH levels to return to normal has not been accurately determined. We have previously shown that AMH levels have yet to return to normal in some women at 3-months postpartum. In this study, AMH levels were examined at 1- and 5-months postpartum to examine whether AMH levels had returned to normal within this interval.METHODS: Longitudinal study involving 38 pregnant women, with serum samples taken in the first trimester, third trimester, 1-month postpartum, 5-months postpartum and 4-6 years postpartum. Participants were recruited from a tertiary maternity clinic (single centre). All women in the study were intending to breastfeed exclusively for at least 5 months, with all 38 participants achieving this at 1-month postpartum and 36/38 after 5 months.RESULTS: Serum AMH concentrations had not returned to expected non-pregnant levels by 1-month postpartum. At 5-months postpartum, mean AMH concentrations were similar to expected non-pregnant levels but the rank order of AMH concentrations was still dissimilar to the non-pregnant state.CONCLUSIONS: The regulation of AMH secretion appears to be distinctly different in non-pregnant, pregnant and postpartum populations. This may affect the conclusions that can be drawn from AMH measurements in women during pregnancy and the postpartum period.
AB - PURPOSE: Anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) levels fall during pregnancy but the amount of time required for AMH levels to return to normal has not been accurately determined. We have previously shown that AMH levels have yet to return to normal in some women at 3-months postpartum. In this study, AMH levels were examined at 1- and 5-months postpartum to examine whether AMH levels had returned to normal within this interval.METHODS: Longitudinal study involving 38 pregnant women, with serum samples taken in the first trimester, third trimester, 1-month postpartum, 5-months postpartum and 4-6 years postpartum. Participants were recruited from a tertiary maternity clinic (single centre). All women in the study were intending to breastfeed exclusively for at least 5 months, with all 38 participants achieving this at 1-month postpartum and 36/38 after 5 months.RESULTS: Serum AMH concentrations had not returned to expected non-pregnant levels by 1-month postpartum. At 5-months postpartum, mean AMH concentrations were similar to expected non-pregnant levels but the rank order of AMH concentrations was still dissimilar to the non-pregnant state.CONCLUSIONS: The regulation of AMH secretion appears to be distinctly different in non-pregnant, pregnant and postpartum populations. This may affect the conclusions that can be drawn from AMH measurements in women during pregnancy and the postpartum period.
KW - AMH
KW - Longitudinal study
KW - Postpartum
KW - Pregnancy
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85090951058&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s12020-020-02491-2
DO - 10.1007/s12020-020-02491-2
M3 - Article
C2 - 32918141
SN - 0969-711X
VL - 71
SP - 225
EP - 232
JO - Endocrine
JF - Endocrine
IS - 1
ER -